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Providing Meaningful Environmental Enrichment and Measuring Saliva Cortisol in Pigs Housed on Slatted Flooring

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Technologies and practices to improve feed and nutrient utilization by pigs.

Ron Aldwin S Navales¹, Mike D Tokach¹, Joel M DeRouchey¹

¹Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, College of Agriculture, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506-0201, USA.

Journal of Animal Science

|May 27, 2025

Summary

Producers can enhance swine feed and nutrient utilization through precise feeding, feed additives, and improved farm management. These strategies reduce nutrient excretion and environmental impact, optimizing production costs and performance.

Keywords:

feed and nutrient utilization life cycle analysis pork ecosystem

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Area of Science:

Animal Science
Environmental Science
Agricultural Engineering

Background:

Swine production faces increasing pressure to minimize environmental impact.
Optimizing feed and nutrient utilization is key to reducing waste and improving sustainability.
Life cycle assessments (LCAs) require critical data on current industry practices.

Purpose of the Study:

To review current producer practices for improving feed and nutrient utilization in swine.
To provide data for future life cycle assessments of the swine industry.
To identify strategies that reduce nutrient excretion and environmental footprint.

Main Methods:

Literature review of current swine production practices.
Analysis of nutrient management strategies (e.g., meeting requirements, reducing excess minerals).
Evaluation of feed additives, feed processing, and farm management techniques.

Main Results:

Meeting nutrient requirements reduces nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) excretion.
Precision feeding can lower N and P excretion by at least 11%.
Feed additives (carbohydrase, protease, phytase) and feed processing (particle size, pelleting) improve feed efficiency.
Farm management (reducing overfeeding, feed wastage) and non-nutritional strategies (genetics, health) further enhance efficiency and reduce environmental impact.

Conclusions:

Optimizing feed and nutrient utilization in swine is achievable through a combination of nutritional, processing, and management strategies.
These improvements are critical for reducing the environmental impact of the swine industry.
Future swine production must integrate emerging technologies to further reduce environmental effects while maintaining economic viability.